Many new glyph techniques have been added, and some existing glyphs have been changed. Some of the new techniques can be obtained from creatures anywhere in Pandaria, while others can only be found on powerful creatures that reside on the Timeless Isle.

Rygarius

This is a new raid difficulty designed for pre-made groups of 10 to 25 players or any number in between. This means it's possible to have raids of 15 or 22 players! Difficulty will adjust automatically based on the number of players present with encounters intended to provide a challenge roughly between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty.

Flexible Raid difficulty requires a pre-made group to join but has no minimum item level requirements or role restrictions. Both BattleTag™ and Real ID friends are eligible to participate.

Loot quality will be between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty and awarded through a personal loot system (similar to Raid Finder). Bonus rolls and loot specialization will also be supported.

Player spells with different target limits depending on raid size will gradually increase their limits based on the number of players in Flexible Raid difficulty.

Players will be able to earn raid achievements just like in Normal or Heroic difficulty.

Flexible Raid difficulty has a lockout that is separate from Raid Finder and Normal difficulty.

A mysterious island, lost for millennia to the currents of time, has emerged from the mists off the eastern coast of Jade Forest.

Players seeking to explore the Timeless Isle should visit their faction's shrine in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

The Timeless Isle is inhabited by all manner of strange and powerful creatures that will test the mettle of solo explorers, but great rewards await the brave and skillful: epic loot, bind-to-account gear, Mogu Rune of Fate, pets, mounts, fun toys, and much more.

The Isle is filled with secrets and mysteries, many of which dynamically become available to explorers. Keep an eye on your minimap while on the Isle for information on nearby events!

The Timeless Isle is home to five new world raid bosses! Players may face each of the four Celestials in a trial of combat.

Heroes who have earned the legendary cloak from Wrathion may access the sanctum of the fiery Yaungol demigod Ordos, atop the Timeless Isle.

Proving Grounds is a new feature for individual players to test and improve their combat skills.

At the Proving Grounds, players may undertake trials, designed for Damage, Tank, or Healer roles.

It provides a great opportunity to learn how to Tank or Heal, without the need of a group.

Each trial is available in four separate difficulties: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Endless. Harder difficulties include more difficult and varied enemies.

Endless mode allows you to test your mettle against increasingly difficult enemies. Compare your best scores to friends and guildmates!

: Access to the Proving Grounds and more information is coming soon.

New Feature: Virtual Realms

Virtual Realms are sets of realms that are fused together, and will behave exactly as if they were one cohesive realm. Players on the same Virtual Realm will be able to join guilds, access a single Auction House, join arena teams and raids, as well run dungeons or group up to complete quests.

Players belonging to the same Virtual Realm will have a (#) symbol next to their name.

Redesigned Arena System

Players no longer need to create or join an Arena team to compete.

Similar to the Rated Battleground system, players in a party of the appropriate size (cross-realm groups are supported) may queue for an Arena bracket of the same size (2v2, 3v3, or 5v5).

Each player will have a personal rating that increase or decrease based on victories and defeats against other rated opponents. Opponents will be selected based on the average Match Making Rating of the party.

Conquest cap, requirements on gear and enchantments will be based on the player's personal rating.

The Arena ladder will no longer be sorted according to Battlegroup. Just like Rated Battlegrounds and normal Battlegrounds, all Arenas will now be region-wide!

At the end of an Arena season, the top players in a region will still earn titles and mounts.

Faerie Fire now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 40 seconds).

now restores mana based on the Druid’s Spirit.

Teleport: Moonglade now returns the Druid to a location near their original departure point when the spell is cast while in the Moonglade area.

s Restoration version of the ability now summons a single mushroom at the friendly target’s location. If the mushroom is recast, the mushroom moves to the new location and retains its accumulated bonus healing. A single mushroom now heals for as much as what 3 mushrooms combined healed for previously.

The amount of healing stored on a Wild Mushroom is now reduced by Battle Fatigue.

Genesis is a new Restoration spell learned at level 88. Genesis targets all party or raid members within 60 yards and accelerates the casting Druid's Rejuvenation effects, causing them to heal and expire at 400% of the normal rate. Costs the same amount of mana to cast as Rejuvenation.

Living Seed effects can now stack, up to 50% of the casting Druid's maximum health and will no longer be consumed if the target is already at full health.

Feral: Increases the amount healed by Healing Touch by 20%. Casting Healing Touch increases the damage for the Druid's next two melee abilities by 25%.

Guardian: Increases the amount healed by Healing Touch by 20%. Increases the critical strike chance of Mangle (Bear) by 10% and critical strikes of Mangle (Bear) have a 40% chance Healing Touch or Rebirth instant, free, and castable in all forms. Instant cast version of Healing Touch now benefits from Attack Power instead of Spell Power.

Restoration: Causes Wrath to deal 20% more damage and heals a nearby friendly target for 100% of the damage done.

Force of Nature Treant summoned by the Feral version of this talent will now cast Entangling Roots instead of Bash.

Guardian: Guardian Druids now gain when their Treant takes damage.

when activated, now also provides a 25% bonus to healing for Restoration Druids.Mass Entanglement no longer has a limit on the number of targets that could be affected, up from 5.Nature's Swiftness is no longer a talent, and is now an ability learned by Restoration Druids at level 30.

New talent: Ysera's Gift. Ysera's Gift replaces Nature's Swiftness, and heals the Druid for 5% of their maximum health every 5 seconds. If the Druid is at full health, it will heal the most injured friendly target nearby instead. This talent fills the spot vacated by Nature's Swiftness.

Nature's Vigil when activated, causes healing spells now trigger an additional heal on a nearby ally for 25% of the amount healed. This is in addition to the existing effect where it damages a nearby enemy target for 25% of the healing done.Soul of the Forest has been partially redesigned to make it more attractive to Balance, Guardian, and Restoration Druids.

Charred Glyph now causes Innervate to give both the Druid and the target 60% of the normal effect of the spell if it's cast on a target other than the Druid.

Glyph of Lifebloom's effect is now baseline and has been replaced with Charred Glyph. Charred Glyph increases the healing done by Swiftmend by 20%, causes the Wild Mushroom healing effect to be triggered by Wild Mushroom instead of Swiftmend, and lasts as long as the Wild Mushroom is active.

Charred Glyph now reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifts by 100% (up from 90%).Charred Glyph now reduces the cooldown of by 60 seconds (up from 30 seconds).Glyph of Rake now increases the range of by 8 yards (up from 3 yards).Glyph of Skull Bash now increases the duration of Skull Bash's interrupt by 2 seconds, and increasing the cooldown by 5 seconds (down from a 4 second interrupt and 10 second increase to cooldown). Glyph of the Moonbeast's effect is now baseline and has been replaced with Glyph of Untamed Stars.

Mastery: Frostburn has been replaced by Mastery: Icicles. When the Mage damages an enemy with their Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolt (14% + 1.75% per Mastery) of the damage done is stored as an Icicle for 15 seconds. Mastery: Icicles also increases the Water Elemental’s Water Bolt damage by (14% + 1.75% per Mastery). Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once. Casting Ice Lance launches all stored Icicles at the target.

Frostbolt no longer increases the damage of any spells. The damage for those spells have been increased instead.

Glyph of Remove Curse now increases the damage dealt by 15% after successfully removing a curse (up from 10%).Glyph of Spellsteal now heals the Mage for 5% of their maximum health after successfully stealing a spell (up from 3%).

Chi Burst no longer requires a target. It now travels as a 40-yard line in front of the Monk.Healing Elixirs will no longer activate if the Monk is already at full health, and activate automatically when the Monk has less than 35% of their maximum health.Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger now has a pet control bar for Xuen, and the talent is no longer on global cooldown for all Monk specializations.

no longer reduces the amount of healing done by 50% and now restores mana based on the Paladin’s Spirit.

(Holy version) now deals additional healing based on any heal cast by the Paladin for the 15 seconds for the duration of the spell. The Paladin also has 10% additional haste for the duration that the ability is active.

Guardian of the Ancient Kings (Retribution version) now has a reduced cooldown of 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and the maximum number of stacks has been reduced to 12.

Inquisition now lasts 20 seconds per charge of Holy Power consumed, up from 10 seconds.

Talents

Burden of Guilt has been replaced with a new talent called Evil is a Point of View. New Talent: Evil is a Point of View. Evil is a Point of View allows the Paladin to use Turn Evil on players and beasts.

Eternal Flame's periodic heal-over-time effect now heals for 40% more.Execution Sentence will now immediately damage the target for 5 times the amount of damage that had been dealt by Execution Sentence most recent periodic effect when dispelled.

Stay of Execution will now immediately heal the target for 5 times the amount of healing that had been dealt by Stay of Execution's most recent periodic effect when dispelled.

Hand of Purity now reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects by 80% (up from 70%) and reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects that cannot be prevented by immunities by 40% (up from 0%).Sacred Shield:

Holy: Sacred Shield now applies its damage absorption shield immediately, can be active on more than one target at a time, but the talent now costs mana and has 3 charges with a 10-second recharge.

Charred Glyph has been redesigned. The glyph now increases the duration of Inquisition by 30 seconds (up to a maximum of 2 minutes) each time the Paladin lands a killing blow on targets that yield experience or honor.

Charred Glyph now increases damage for the next Shield of the Righteous by 10% per stack (down from 20% per stack).Glyph of the Battle Healer has been redesigned. The glyph now causes Seal of Insight to no longer heal the Paladin. Instead, a nearby raid or party member will receive healing for 30% of the amount the Paladin would have received from Seal of Insight. Glyph of Turn Evil replaces Glyph of Burden of Guilt.

This glyph causes Judgment to reduce the target's movement speed by 50% for 2 seconds.

New Minor Glyphs

Glyph of the Exorcist: Exorcism will now appear to remove the evil from its target.

Rapture now energizes the Priest for 100% of the mana cost of Power Word: Shield/ When the shield is fully consumed or is dispelled (used to energize the Priest with mana equal to 150% of their spirit). This is the modified mana cost for Power Word: Shield, after being reduced by Rapture’s passive effect.

Spirit Shell duration has been reduced to 10 seconds (down from 15 seconds), and the damage absorption shield's effectiveness can now be reduced through Battle Fatigue.

Shadow: Now has a 20% chance to activate its effect for Shadow Priests (up from a 15% chance).

Mindbender now deals 10% more damage, and mana return has been increased by 20%.'s health has been reduced by 75%, but fixed a bug where wasn't being affected by base Resilience.Twist of Fate's damage and healing threshold to activate has been increased to 35% (up from 20%).

Assassination Rogues should no longer be eligible for any other weapon types except daggers in situations where loot is automatically awarded(Raid Finder, Bonus Rolls, Heroic/Normal Scenarios, and the upcoming Flexible Raid difficulty.)

Combat

New passive ability, Ruthlessness: This passive ability is learned by Combat Rogues at Level 32. The Rogue gains a 20% chance per combo point (100% chance at 5 combo points) to immediately regain 1 combo point while performing a finishing move.

Nightstalker now increases damage dealt by abilities while stealthed by 50%, up from 25%.

now stuns the target at 4 applications of the poison (down from 5 applications).

Shadowstep now has a reduced cooldown of 20 seconds (down from 24 seconds).

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Adrenaline Rush's effect is now baseline and has been replaced with Charred Glyph. Charred Glyph causes Redirect to no longer have a cooldown.

Glyph of Blind now only removes damage-over-time effects that would cause Blind to break. For Rogues that also have the Dirty Tricks talent, this means Blind will no longer remove the Rogue’s poison or bleed effects. Glyph of Crippling Poison has been replaced with Charred Glyph.

Charred Glyph now causes Fan of Knives to also damage the armor of its victims, applying 1 application of the Weakened Armor effect to each target.

Healing Tide Totem is no longer a talent and is a baseline ability for all Shamans. Additionally, this totem will now heal 12 raid members (up from 5) when used in a 25-player instance. New Talent: Rushing Streams. This new talent replaces Healing Tide Totem, increases healing done by Healing Stream Totem by 100%, and causes the totem to heal 2 targets at once.

Stone Bulwark Totem's initial damage absorption shield now absorbs an additional 33% in damage. Totemic Restoration has been replaced with a new talent, Totemic Persistence.

New talent: Totemic Persistence. Summoning a second totem of the same element no longer causes the first totem to be destroyed. Only one non-Fire totem can benefit from this effect at a time.

no longer energizes Soul Shards from the pets and guardians of players and now deals 40% less damage, and if other periodic Affliction damage effects are triggered by , they now deal 60% of their normal damage (down from 100%).

Haunt now deals 50% more damage, and increases damage done by all of the Warlock's other spells against the target by 45%.

Drain Soul now deals 40% less damage, and causes all of of the Warlock's other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 30% of their normal periodic damage (down from 50%).

Nightfall now gives Corruption a 10% chance to generate a Soul Shard (up from a 5% chance), but the increased chance only works on the most recently applied Corruption.

Soul Swap no longer does any damage, and now copies damage-over-time effects instead of just moving them without needing a glyph. Copied effects now once again preserve their power and duration. Duration has been reduced to 6 seconds (down from 20 seconds).

For Affliction Warlocks, the Soulburn empowered version of also receives a 50% increase to damage and 150% increase to healing.

Howl of Terror is no longer a talent and is now a baseline skill for all Warlocks.

is a new talent replacing Howl of Terror. The Warlock sends out a cone of Shadow damage, snaring targets, has a 20-second cooldown.

Kil'jaeden's Cunning no longer reduces movement speed, and will now allow the Warlock to cast Incinerate, Drain Soul, and Shadow Bolt while moving.Mannoroth's Fury is no longer a passive ability. 10 seconds with a 60 second cooldown, and increases the area of area-of-effect by 500% and increases damage by 100% for Seed of Corruption, Hellfire, , and Rain of Fire.Soul Leech can now also activate from Shadowburn, and caps out at 15% of the Warlock and their pet's maximum health (down from 100%).Soul Link now transfers 20% of damage taken by the Warlock to their pet, and 3% of all damage dealt by the Warlock will be returned as healing for the Warlock and their pet. This ability is always active while the Warlock's pet is active.

Slam now deals deals 50% more damage, but the Rage cost has been increased by 50% as well. While Sweeping Strikes is active, Slam will deal 35% of damage dealt against the primary target to all other enemies within 2 yards, and targets affected by Colossus Smash receives 10% more damage.

Sweeping Strikes now causes melee attacks to strike an additional nearby target for 75% of the initial damage (up from 50%).

is a new passive ability learned by Protection Warriors at level 76. When the Warrior dodges or parries any attack, they gain 50% of their Parry and Dodge as an additional bonus to Critical Strike for 20 seconds.

Ultimatum now activates from critical hits with Shield Slam instead of a flat 20% chance, and the ability will make the next Heroic Strike or be a critical hit in addition to costing no Rage.

Talents

Bladestorm's cooldown has decreased to 60 seconds (down from 1.5 minutes), and now deals an increased 180% of weapon damage for Arms Warriors (up from 120%).

Bloodbath's snare and bleed effects are now two separate debuffs. Clearing one of the effects will no longer remove the other.

Enraged Regeneration now instantly heals the warrior for 10% of their total health (up from 5%), and an additional 10% over 5 seconds (up from 5%).

Impending Victory now heals the Warrior for 20% of their maximum health at all times (up from 15% on attack and 20% on kills that yield experience or honor).

Storm Bolt now has a duration of 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds), and has an off-hand attack for Fury Warriors.

Vigilance no longer transfers damage to the Warrior. The talent now reduces amount of damage the target takes by 30% for 12 seconds.

Warbringer now roots the target for 4 seconds instead of stunning them for 3 seconds. The 50% reduction to movement speed snare effect for 8 seconds remains unchanged. Glyph of Blitz will now cause Warbringer to root an additional 2 nearby targets.

Charred Glyph: Heroic Throw now leaves an axe in the target, which can be retrieved by moving within 5 yards of the target to finish the cooldown of Heroic Throw. This effect will only occur when Heroic Throw is cast from more than 10 yards away from the target.

Bonus Roll change: Players that don’t have a coin or elect to not use a Bonus Roll when defeating one of the world bosses (Sha of Anger, Galleon, Nalak, and Oondasta) can come back later that same week to use the Bonus Roll. The limit has not changed and remains one attempt and one bonus roll per boss, per week.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

The chance for awarding loot from using a bonus roll has been increased for Throne of Thunder on Normal difficulty.

All enemies in Throne of Thunder now have a debuff called Shado-Pan Onslaught, which reduces their health and damage by 20%.

Dungeons

Players who obtain a realm-best time in a Challenge Mode dungeon (group must contain at least 3 people from the same realm to qualify) will receive a temporary title specific to each dungeon (e.g. Siegebreaker for Siege of Niuzao Temple, Darkmaster for Scholomance, etc.). This title will persist for as long as a player retains the top time on the realm. Holding a realm-best time at any point will also confer a permanent Feat of Strength to record the accomplishment.

Scenarios

Heroic Scenarios no longer have a minimum item level requirement to enter.

PvP

Elite versions of Season 14 Grievous are now available as a mark of prestige for players that are able to attain a personal rating of 2000 and earn 27,000 Conquest Points in the current season. Pricing per piece remains the same but the previous piece requirement has been removed.

Equipping any pair of PvP trinkets from Season 12 or later will now grant a 10% reduction in damage taken from other players.

: For testing purposes, Grievous Flaskataur will be available near the Alliance/Horde shrines near Vale of Eternal Blossoms selling standard Grievous gear for gold.

: For testing purposes, the item level scaling of gear in Arenas, Battlegrounds and Rated Battlegrounds has been increased to 512 during the 5.4 PTR. Season 14 Grievous Conquest gear is exempt from this item level ceiling.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Battlegrounds

Conquest Points rewards for winning a random or call-to-arms Battleground match has been increased.

Bombs are no longer an item held in the player's inventory and will now do considerably more damage, 4500 (up from 1250).

Players carrying a bomb now have a button that allows them to place it with a spell effect over their heads.

Placing a bomb takes 2 seconds, and can be interrupted like a Battleground capture point.

Disarming a bomb takes 2 seconds, and can be interrupted like a Battleground capture point.

Demolishers will no longer have the Ram ability and only one will spawn at each stage.

Arena

For Arena matches lasting longer than 15 minutes, one of the teams will receive a buff called The Crowd Chose You!!! that increases damage, critical strike chance, stealth detection, and reduces damage taken. The buff is awarded based on the following criteria.

Team with the largest number of players alive.

Team that brought an enemy player closest to death (lowest health).

Arena Rating scaling in the 2v2 bracket has been tuned to be consistent with the 3v3 bracket.

Many new glyph techniques have been added, and some existing glyphs have been changed. Some of the new techniques can be obtained from creatures anywhere in Pandaria, while others can only be found on powerful creatures that reside on the Timeless Isle.

Patterns for Celestial Cloth could be found as a drop from creatures in Pandaria.

Items

All permanent item enhancements provided by Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, and various vendors and quests are now able to be applied to items of any level. This means all enchantments can now be applied to heirloom items.

High level enhancements applied to items equipped by low level players have their power scaled down to be similar to enhancements intended for that level range.

Low level enhancements applied to items equipped by high level players do not grow further in power beyond their intended level range.

Adjustments have been made to Mists of Pandaria faction quartermasters.

The conversion rate for Justice Points to Honor Points have changed. The conversion rate is now 500 Justice Points per 250 Honor Points (up from 375 Justice per 250 Honor). Trinket, enchant, set bonus, and legendary meta-gem effects whose triggered effect benefits from haste no longer also have their chance to trigger the benefit from haste. Activation chances for those effects have been adjusted to compensate will now be displayed on their tooltip. : For testing purposes, Flaskataur, Esq. will be available near the Niuzao Temple selling normal Tier-16 armor and Tier-16 trinkets for gold.: For testing purposes, Glyphataur, Ph.D (He's a doctor!) will be available near the Alliance/Horde shrines in Vale of Eternal Blossoms selling new glyphs.

Comments

Comment by AkimboYojimbo

on Wed, 07 Aug 2013 21:08:27 -0500

Connected Realm is a set of two or more standard realms that have been permanently and seamlessly “linked.” Players on the same Connected Realm will be able to trade, send and receive mail, join the same guilds, access a single Auction House, run the same Raids and Dungeons, and join other adventurers to complete quests.

Seems to answer that common question.

I have to say that I'm pleased by how much attention the crafting process has gotten this expansion and I hope it heralds some real innovation for the next.

Comment by Rystrave

on Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:22:07 -0500

Figured there would be some epic jc cuts by now :/

Comment by voreo

on Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:36:01 -0500

Aw, the artifact replacer getting nerfed... guess i should get on to do archeology before then

Comment by Yxiomel

The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane Kick, but, deals 60% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.

If their goal is to ensure no BrM or WW takes anything but Xuen, and MW take nothing but Chi Torpedo and occassionally Xuen, then this is the way to do it.Why would anyone take a talent to nerf their AoE throughput by 40%?

Comment by neonjohn

on Thu, 08 Aug 2013 12:21:46 -0500

Connected Realm is a set of two or more standard realms that have been permanently and seamlessly “linked.” Players on the same Connected Realm will be able to trade, send and receive mail, join the same guilds, access a single Auction House, run the same Raids and Dungeons, and join other adventurers to complete quests.

Seems to answer that common question.

I have to say that I'm pleased by how much attention the crafting process has gotten this expansion and I hope it heralds some real innovation for the next.

While I have the same hopes as you, if by "how much attention the crafting process has gotten this expansion" you mean crafting has been made hella easy, then I can't agree with you.

Figured there would be some epic jc cuts by now :/

See my previous comment. Professions weren't really fleshed out much at all for mists.

It's not so much what they are now, but what they didn't do, or could have done but didn't, to make them a lot better.

Comment by AkimboYojimbo

on Thu, 08 Aug 2013 18:41:44 -0500

While I have the same hopes as you, if by "how much attention the crafting process has gotten this expansion" you mean crafting has been made hella easy, then I can't agree with you.

I wasn't commenting on the changes themselves, just that they have been making them. Iteration isn't always successful, but it's always valuable.

I really hope that glyph of lifebloom change doesn't go through...I like being able to keep lifebloom up on the target...I don't want it taken away T.T

If your talking about the Lifebloom Glyph going away, it's functionality is now baseline in the spell.

Comment by Lancecaster

The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane Kick, but, deals 60% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.

If their goal is to ensure no BrM or WW takes anything but Xuen, and MW take nothing but Chi Torpedo and occassionally Xuen, then this is the way to do it.Why would anyone take a talent to nerf their AoE throughput by 40%?

Since you can perform other actions while using RJW, this is still an aoe dps buff (even after reducing it by 40%). BrM's are still Keg Smashing and able to Breath of Fire while keeping RJW up, WW's are still able to use RSK and maintain their normal priority rotation... I just think having it do the full 100% dmg passively was too strong.

Comment by loinus

on Mon, 12 Aug 2013 01:15:18 -0500

Finally BS can make high ilvl epics without the help of other professions! \\o/

Comment by DarkDestroyer

on Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:50:07 -0500

Yay, warlock mounts turn green too!

Still don't have green fire yet, though.

1

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